


ways to say (i love you)

by moccatoccata



Category: A3! (Video Game)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Fluff, M/M, Romance, rare pair is rare
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-23
Updated: 2019-03-31
Packaged: 2019-08-28 04:45:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 3,479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16716822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moccatoccata/pseuds/moccatoccata
Summary: telling someone you love them doesn't always mean that you have to say "I love you".





	1. “I saved a piece for you.”

**Author's Note:**

> it's mocca and it's been years since I posted here ;; well, to celebrate the announcement of A3! being localized to English, why don't I write ficlets about my rare af otp in the fandom ~~(also in hopes of having more people notice this pair but ssh)~~ As always, there's no beta we die like men. Hope you'll enjoy~

“Wait, wait, is that the XXL burger from that burger joint downtown?”

“Yep,” Itaru doesn’t look up from his game and continues playing his game. Apparently the MMO he plays is having a new expansion; something he always talk about these days and while Tenma doesn’t mind, sometimes it just feels tiring because he doesn’t understand even a bit.

Although right now, that’s not what Tenma wants to think about as he slowly unraveled the scarf adorning his neck. He looks at Itaru expectantly but when the silence stretches longer and longer only with the sound of munching breaking it sometimes, Tenma’s shoulders dropped and he sighs. Talk about having an insensitive boyfriend.

“I’m going to bath,” he says; walking to their shared bedroom while grumbling about being hungry and cold and while he kind of feels bad being angry at Itaru because of this, he still let himself stew over it under the scalding hot shower. He washes up quick and then goes to their kitchen hoping for a cup of noodle available.

Before he manages to reach there, Tenma finds himself being pulled sideway. His body hit something and then he look up to see Itaru smiling, lips curved upwards in what Tenma has noticed as being his teasing smile.

“Are you mad at me?” Itaru caresses his cheek slowly and Tenma leans onto it despite feeling sour.

“Uh-huh,” he murmurs, closing his eyes when Itaru rubs the skin underneath one of his eye. It probably looks ugly; dark ring and all. He’s not like Itaru who can sleep for an hour and still wake up fresh and handsome.

“Itaru-san is a mean person,” Tenma opens his eyes to glare.

“And I’m sorry, sweetheart,” Itaru leans closer to make their foreheads touch. “Will you forgive me if I say I actually saved you a piece?”

Tenma grumbles as Itaru turn his body to guide him to the kitchen. “Then why don’t you say so in the first place. You actually let me go—oh”

The small dining table they have at the kitchen is already covered with silk table cloth along with a set of fine dining trinkets on top. Tenma sees piping hot steak already served, champagne on an ice bucket and when Itaru dims the light, he is greeted with the scene of a romantic candlelight dinner.

“What … when … how?” Tenma gapes as Itaru kisses the back of his hand. “Itaru-san?”

“There’s no way I can give Tenma a two-days-old burger that isn’t even whole anymore, right?” Itaru grins in the way that he knows he got Tenma this time. “Anyway, happy 500 days anniversary.”

“Is that even exist?” Itaru moves to get Tenma to sit but the younger stands on his ground. “You stupid game freak nerd otaku who’s too handsome for his own good … I hate you.”

“I’ll choose to focus on the positive from that sentences,” Itaru pecks him once, twice on his lips. “I have to keep you on your toes dear. It’s what makes a relationship great.”

“I’m so going to retaliate, just you see,” Tenma huffs but pulls Itaru down to kiss him.

“Happy anniversary, I love you too.”


	2. "Take my seat."

Itaru yawns again. A glance at his watch tells him that it's only 8 in the morning but somehow his body feels like he'd been hit by a freight train then rolled by a dozer and this time it's not even because of playing MMO till dawn.

He massages his temple as he steps into the train. Curse year-end and the never ending reports that are needed to be filled. He scans the carriage to find an empty seat; maybe he can doze off for a while until his stop, but alas, all of them are occupied.

An old lady even glares at him for daring to look at her seat. Itaru sighs and holds the handrail even though he feels like he's going to faint. Someone then taps his shoulder and he turns. That someone turns out to be an orange-haired student; judging from his green uniform.

Itaru raises his eyebrows and the student quickly lowers his gaze; the tip of his ears reddens. "You can take my seat, if you want," the student says. His voice is muffled because of the mask he wears.

Itaru is already past the point of being polite—he's tired and his legs are shaking—so he smiles and replies with gratitude. "Thank you, student." The student nods; Itaru notices he's flustered for some reason, then moves nearer to the train door.

It seems his stop is at the next station. Itaru watches him for a while, thinking that it's nice that there's still good people around in this trying, modern time. Yet, he wonders as he closes his eyes for a light nap, where had he seen that shade of hair and eyes before?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> also cross-posted on [twitter](https://twitter.com/takoyakai/status/985173057202413568) many months ago


	3. "I'm sorry for your loss."

Itaru’s sad face is what prompted Tenma to say, “I’m sorry for your loss.”

“Do I look that bad?” Itaru asks, muffled because his face is burrowed between his folded arms on the table.

“You look like someone kicked your dog a hundred times,” Tenma’s tone is flat, slurping his cola to emphasize his point. “It’s just a figurine—“

Itaru raises his head to start retorting but Tenma quickly shushes him. “No, okay. That’s a wrong thing for me to say, I know.”

Tenma sees Itaru deflate back to his original position and he sighs. How Itaru can be older than me when something like this already make him slumped. He reaches Itaru’s hair to stroke it slowly and smiles a little when Itaru gives him pleased noises.

“It’s rare to see Itaru-san enjoys doing PDA,” Tenma wishes they are in less crowded place so he can kiss Itaru.

He hears Itaru chuckle as the older man rise from his position. “We’re the fan-service couple remember?” and he adds in a scandalous whisper, “And it seems that your fans like it.”

Tenma notices a couple of phone camera facing their way and he adjusts his sunglasses reflexively. “They do. Okay, how about we go again looking for a store selling that thing.”

Itaru exhales forlornly and shakes his head. “It’s no use. That figurine is limited edition and the character’s extremely popular … there’s no way smaller store will have them.”

He then stands up and cleans their wrappers up. “Just let’s go home, Tenma.”

When they finally step inside their apartment, Tenma sidles closer and grasp Itaru’s hand to kiss its back. “Itaru-san, are you okay?”

Itaru mumbles something before kissing his forehead. “I’m okay, just really annoyed right now that the company doesn’t open preorder and I don’t have time to wait from early morning because of work but well … what’s done is done.”

He ruffles Tenma’s hair, making the younger squawk before going to their bedroom. Itaru huffs as he watches Itaru go but his annoyance doesn’t last long because then the phone call he’s been waiting for has come. Tenma manages to make a speedy journey downstairs to retrieve the package and hide the package in the kitchen before Itaru finishes washing up. He’ll wait until after dinner to give Itaru his surprise.

“I got you something,” Tenma starts when they already settles down on the sofa to watch Tenma’s latest drama.

“Huh, what for?” Itaru looks at him quizzically. “I don’t remember any anniversary for today.”

“Because you look sad today,” Tenma almost throws the package at his boyfriend. “And I don’t like seeing you sad.”

Itaru laughs and pulls him closer. “That’s sweet so now open it for me.”

“I do all the work in this household,” Tenma exhales dramatically but carefully open the package. Inside, he feels giddy for what Itaru will look like after seeing his gift.

When Tenma shoves the box towards Itaru face, the man goes silent and looks at the box unbelievingly. Tenma lets him absorb the situation and goes to throw the wrapper away. When he returns, the box is already on the table and now Itaru watches him like a hawk.

“Do you like it? I kinda have to ask for favor from my colleagues and it’s kinda hard but somehow I manage—whoa“

Without realizing it, Itaru has him pinned on their sofa and his intense gaze makes Tenma shiver. The silence stretches long and Tenma squirms. “Itaru-san?”

“I love you, Sumeragi Tenma. You have to know,” Itaru looks at him. “How can you make me fall in love everyday with you?”

Tenma can feel his cheeks heat up. “Itaru-san, this is embarrassing. Stop quoting lines from dramas.”

“But if I don’t tell you then how would you know my feelings for you,” Tenma’s glad Itaru’s face actually look flushed as well and judging from his less intense gaze and the quivering of his lips, Tenma knows he actually feel embarrassed too. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Tenma says as Itaru pull back so he can sit normally again but then the older man kisses him fully and for a while both of them forget everything aside each other.

“Thank you though,” Itaru exhales shakily when they pull apart and Tenma knows he’ll do more things like this when now he knows how it’ll make Itaru feel. “It must’ve been difficult to ask for this.”

“How could I do otherwise, when I would always do anything for you?” Tenma says smiling and from the way Itaru grin, he knows that he remember it’s the line Tenma’s character said when he did something to the main female character.

But the sentiment is pure and when Itaru kiss him again, Tenma promises himself he’d do anything he can to make Itaru happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and kudos are appreciated! Thanks for reading this :) ~~is there anyone more interested in itaten now? ;)~~


	4. "Pull over. Let me drive for awhile."

"You look tired."

Itaru looks up at that and he knows his face must have looked horrible because Tenma is frowning while giving him a cup of coffee. Itaru laughs weakly before sipping his beverage.

"That bad?" he enquiries. His eyes hurt and he wonders when the last time he closes them was.

Tenma nods. His hand reached out to brushes Itaru's hair and it is so comfortable he almost fall asleep then and there. Tenma huffs, "That's it."

"What?" Tenma quickly grabs the car key. "I'm driving."

"But you're just arrived from somewhere around the world and might have jetlag."

"For someone who yawns every second just now..." replies Tenma as he cleans his wrappers, "You're amazingly coherent."

He pauses after. "On a second thought ... you're definitely out of it. Otherwise you won't forget that I only go to Seoul this time."

Itaru chuckles at that before cleaning after himself as well. "I hate it when you're this sassy. You learn too much from Yuki."

"You love me anyway."

Itaru's eyes soften. "Yeah, I do."


	5. “It reminded me of you.”

A bouquet of sunflowers arrives along with burgers from his favorite chain restaurant. Tenma stares at it for a while, only returns back to reality when his co-actress squeals.

"Sunflowers! How pretty," she coos before asking: "Are these from your fans, Tenma-san?"

Tenma only hums, letting his manager quickly clarified with a knowing smile. "From his biggest fan actually."

"Ah, not his fanclub?" The co-actress asks but before she can dig further, Tenma excuses himself while carrying his bouquet and his share of burgers. He'll left the socializing to his manager and will just return to his trailer. Hey, this just arrived, he types before taking a picture. Not exactly expecting the other person to reply because of the different time zone. He then takes a pose along with his bouquet. Thank you.

His phone dings. You're welcome, the text says. Do you like it?

I do, Tenma writes back. Go to sleep now, be more responsible to your body.

After a minute passes without any reply back, Tenma put down his phone to open the card attached to the bouquet. Words is written with a familiar cursive Tenma know who it belongs to and it doesn't look like it's scanned. Has technology advanced that greatly?

"To Tenma," he read it out loud and have to will his face to not redden. "I saw this flowers when I walked around and—"

"—it reminds me of you." Tenma looks to the trailer door and gapes.

"Surprise!" Itaru smiles and Tenma finds himself falling in love harder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have this headcanon that tenma and itaru treat each other with junk food :))


	6. “No, no, it’s my treat.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> year-end and new year is so hectic :') i'm sorry i kinda missed last week post so here goes~ hope you'll enjoy this :)

The sweet and crunchy flavor of the peanut candy bursts inside his mouth and Itaru closes his eyes in bliss. He usually isn't the type to eat sweet food, preferring to order pizza to his castle—or according to his sister, cockroach den—but a change of taste like this once in a while is good as well.

"Do you like it?" Tenma's face looks nervous. "I mean, I know you're not the type to eat sweet things but..."

Seeing Tenma with his face red like that is too much for Itaru's heart sometimes that it makes him want to tease the younger man. He grins while scooping the ice cream. "What do you think?"

Tenma sputters. "W-well, I'm the one who's asking you!"

"Hmm... I don't wanna answer though," Itaru revels in how adorable Tenma looks like huffing like that. "I need an incentive."

"How are you older than me." Itaru pretends he doesn't hear any of it. "I want you to kiss me."

Tenma chokes on air at that while Itaru laughs.

Later that afternoon, when Itaru asks for how much he should pay for their food escapades, Tenma shakes his head. "It's my treat. I'm the one who asks you to go with me there."

"I see," Itaru smiles but it doesn't create the teasing edge he intend to. "Our fifth date and you're willing to pay already?" Tenma goes silent at that and before Itaru can ask more, the light has turned green and he needs to focus back on the road.

It's two street before reaching MANKAI that Tenma finally answers. "I'm willing because I hope we're going to have more dates after this and you're going to treat me then."

Itaru has to stop his car at that and looking at Tenma's bright eyes, he knew. As he leans to kiss Tenma, he knows that he also wishes for another date to come.


	7. "Come here. Let me fix it."

Tenma just finished his toast when Itaru stumbles out of their room, bleary-eyed because of work and continuous late-night gaming. He sees the man yawns and reaches for his favorite mug from the rack and pour himself some coffee. When Itaru finally settles down and sips some coffee, Tenma greets him.

"Good morning, sleepyhead," Tenma grins.

Itaru just grunts out as a greeting back but he looks more awake than before. "Why didn't you wake me up?"

"I slept at midnight and you still hadn't come home that time so ... late night?" Tenma reaches across to hold Itaru's hand. Itaru nods and it is then when Tenma notices that he's already wearing his work suit, flawless as always. Tenma is always envious how Itaru can sleep for two or three hours and wake up sluggishly but turns to a prince the moment he step out of their apartment door. Although, as he watches Itaru nibbles at his toast, Itaru's tie looks crooked today.

"Itaru-san," he says when they're at the porch; Itaru just finished wearing his pantofels, "Your tie."

Itaru looks at the mirror beside the shoe rack, but then smiles at Tenma. "Well?"

Tenma huffs but he still feels his lips lift up. "Okay, I'll fix it, you baby."

"Yours," Tenma wonders how Itaru can blurts out cheesy things like that without blushing.

"Hmhm," he pats Itaru's chest when he's done. "Now, give me my kiss."


	8. "I'll walk you home."

It's late when Tenma finishes his extra lesson for the day. Exam is soon approaching and more lessons is being crammed to the students' brain to ensure that they'll pass. Even if Tenma isn't like those ambitious people who aim for top universities, he still want to pass with good grades after all. It's unfortunate though that Taichi decided to ditch him going somewhere and that Juuza is quite busy on his own, being a third year and all. He wonders whether to call his manager to pick him up or just walk back to MANKAI when a car stops in front of him. Tenma's reflex makes him step back as he watch the car cautiously; stalker and kidnappers being occupational hazards when you're a famous actor. His worries fortunately aren't true because when the window rolls down, he can see Itaru sitting behind the steer.

"Evening," Itaru greets. "Jump in, I know it's getting colder out there."

"Ah, yes," Tenma says, still confused to why Itaru pick him up or why he knows that Tenma come home late from school today.

"How's your school?" Itaru starts to drive when Tenma has safely wear the seat belt. "I heard it'll be final exam in two weeks."

"Yeah, it's quite a pain but I want to pass my exam well," Tenma sighs and begin to relax his body when he remembers something. "Wait, how do you know when I finishes school and why do you pick me up?" Judging from Itaru's clothes, he seems to be coming home from work.

Itaru doesn't answer until they reaches crossroads and have to wait for the green light. Instead, he motions to the car cup holder. "I bought you hot chocolate."

"Oh," Tenma feel his face heat up. "Thanks, Itaru-san."

"Do you want to grab something before we go back?" Itaru asks suddenly. "You haven't have dinner, have you?"

"Yeah, but stop avoiding my questions, Itaru-san."

Itaru glances at him before smiling. "Well, I just don't want to answer your question."

Tenma sputters. "Wait, what?!"

Itaru laughs and then manage to free his hand to pat Tenma's head. "Izumi-san told me you're going home late today."

Okay, he remember that he told the Director before going to school that he'll have extra lesson today but why though...

"And for the second question... I'm sure Tenma knows what the answer is."

"Wait, wait. No, I don't know. W-well not meaning to be ungrateful, Itaru-san. I do thank you. But why?" Truly, honestly, truthfully. Tenma doesn't know why Itaru-san want to pick him up especially since their school district isn't near the business district. He hears Itaru sigh and mutter something before reaching for Tenma's hand and grip it. Tenma grips back while feeling embarrassed that he can't help but to squeak out. "Itaru-san?"

"You'll be the death of me," Itaru grumbles but he doesn't sound mad. "I just want to ... you're my boyfriend and I don't want you to go home walking in the cold alone at night."

Is it the trick of light or is Itaru-san looks redder than before? Tenma though can only reply with a single "Oh."

Itaru huffs and Tenma notices that he sounds embarrassed. "I'm too old for this shit."

Tenma hums, feeling warm all inside and can't help but to grip Itaru's hand tighter. Courage rushing in, he moves his hand up to be able to kiss the back of Itaru's hand. "Thank you," he breathes out. "I'm really happy, Itaru-san."

He can feel Itaru shivering and Tenma knows it isn't because of the cold. Itaru clears his throat then and Tenma has to release his hands for him to be able to drive better.

"Dinner," Itaru's voice is still shaky and secretly Tenma feels happy that he's the one who make Itaru loses his composure. "Do you still want to dine out?"

"Yeah," Tenma smiles, completely feeling loved. "I know just the place."


	9. "Have a good day at work."

Chikage whistles as he passes Itaru's deck. "How nice it is to be loved."

"Shut up," Itaru throws him a crumpled paper. "Just go find yourself a lover. Maybe that will make you stop being so whiny."

"But Itaru," Chikage singsongs, backtracking to Itaru's desk, "I also want Tenma to be mine."

Itaru shoos him away. "Get lost, Tenma's mine." Chikage just laughs and walks back to his own room—the perks of being a senior employee and chief of their division. Itaru huffs, making sure Chikage is out of view before opening the card attached to the flowers.

"This is too cheesy," he complains but the smile betrays his emotion.

Have a good day at work, Taruchi. With love, Tenma.


	10. “I dreamt about you last night.”

"I dreamt of you last night."

"You do?" Itaru replies, not looking up from whatever game he's been playing but Tenma knows he'll listen. "And what do I do?"

"I forget though," Tenma flips the magazine. "The only thing I remember is that I dreamt of you."

Itaru chuckles. "Too bad. I thought I can tease Tenma dreaming of me naked."

"Maybe it's Itaru-san's dream, dreaming of me naked."

"Why should I," Itaru finally stops playing to see Tenma's reaction for what he's going to say, "When I can make that dream come true."

A magazine lands on his face as Tenma yells.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> woaah hello guys we're finally at the end (?) of this drabble series. I thought since this is my self-indulgent pair no one will bother about this fic lol but dear readers thank you for leaving kudos and comments and even reading this fic; those really make me happy.
> 
> well, I'll see you in the future with other fics. once again, thanks for being with me throughout this short itaten journey :)

**Author's Note:**

>  ~~well itaru actually eat that burger because he’s too hungry while waiting for tenma coming back from his filming :))~~  
>  this work is based on prompts from [here](http://p0ck3tf0x.tumblr.com/post/98502010026/one-hundred-ways-to-say-i-love-you)


End file.
